TOKYO – Japan’s largest cities are in a state of emergency as coronavirus deaths increase, even as the country tries to convince the world that it can keep the Summer Olympics safe. South Korea bans rallies of five or more people to keep the recent increase in affairs under control. Hong Kong has strictly locked up some of its poorest neighborhoods to stem a boom.
And yet none of these places started implementing the only solution with the hope of putting the pandemic behind it: vaccinations.
While the United States and most countries in Europe as well as the Asian kraals China and India began to vaccinate their populations, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong stood out by going much slower.
Japan will only vaccinate medical workers – those at the front of the queue – by the end of February. The same is true in South Korea, and those over the age of 65 will only start receiving vaccinations in May. Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China, will begin vaccinating “high-risk groups” in mid-February.
To some extent, the three economic forces in East Asia have the luxury time. Despite recent increases in infections, they have not experienced the kind of outbreaks that have devastated the United States or Britain. The three governments say they will approve vaccines after standard regulatory reviews and that they lay the logistical basis for a smooth implementation.
“Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong are in the enviable position that their strong application of public health controls has enabled them to control the disease burden strongly,” said Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, said. ‘So it’s not vaccination or anything. The countries that have the most urgent need to accelerate vaccinations are the countries that suffer the most. ”
The delays, which occur as more contagious and perhaps more deadly variants of the virus emerge worldwide, could hamper these governments’ efforts to protect the public and restore the normalcy of their weary populations.
But procrastination also offers opportunities. Those left behind can take the time to learn from the disturbing explosions in the United States and Europe, where the supply problems, chilling challenges and debates over who first vaccinated the vaccine campaigns.
By moving more deliberately, the East Asian governments can also alleviate public concern about the remarkable speed with which the vaccines are being created. In Japan and South Korea, polls show that many people are reluctant to be vaccinated immediately.
“The bottlenecks are really going to be on the demand side,” said Dr. Udayakumar said. “Can we actually convince people to accept the vaccine, and can we implement it quickly enough to achieve herd immunity through vaccinations?”
The supply can also limit the speed of deployment. While Hong Kong approved Pfizer’s vaccine in January, neither Japan nor South Korea approved it. Both countries have contracts with several vaccine makers for enough doses to cover more than their entire population. Manufacturers scramble to fill these and many other orders.
“If vaccines are secured, South Korea will enter faster than any other country in the world, and that’s what South Korea is good at,” said Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease specialist at Korea University. “The problem is that it is uncertain and there is no guarantee that the vaccines will arrive at the right time.”
In theory, Japan has a more urgent deadline. The government insists that it will continue with the Olympic Games despite the intensified questions about its feasibility. The Games, originally scheduled for 2020 in Tokyo but postponed to this summer, are on July 23.
In January, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, urged athletes, Olympic officials and others likely to travel to Tokyo for the Games “to be vaccinated in their home countries, in accordance with national vaccination guidelines, before going to Japan. . ”
However, vaccination is not necessary, officials said. Commenting on the Olympic Games before the Japanese parliament in January, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that “by taking the necessary measures against infection, we are preparing to hold a safe tournament without having a vaccine as a prerequisite.”
This has raised concerns in Japan that a large number of unvaccinated people would turn up this summer. Those who travel to Japan to compete may in turn feel more confident if locals are vaccinated in large numbers.
Although this pressure is increasing, there have been signs that the government is lowering expectations for a rapid distribution scheme. Last week, Taro Kono, a cabinet minister appointed to manage coronavirus vaccinations, said residents over the age of 65 only start getting it at least in April. Herd immunity will probably only come months after the Olympics.
Another major possible complication for the Japanese government is an audience that has shown below the highest level of skepticism about vaccines in the world. Wrong information, fueled by the media, has thwarted earlier campaigns.
After the papillomavirus vaccine for cervical cancer prevention was introduced in Japan in 2010, local media widely reported that some girls who were vaccinated suffered from side effects that experts later found had no connection to the vaccine.
But memory of the media reports – however vague – still influences public opinion.
Kazuo Inoue, 68, a semi-retired consultant in Tokyo, said his attitude was ‘wait and see’.
“Generally, any new vaccine or new medicine has side effects,” he said. ‘And we’ve had several cases before. I forgot the name of the vaccine, but it was a vaccine for girls, for HPV, a new one, and it had many side effects for many people. ‘
Erika Yamao, 33, a hairstylist and mother of three young children in Tokyo, said she watched afternoon talk shows where well-known hosts warned about possible side effects of the vaccinations. She said she did not tend to get a chance when it was available.
Covid19 vaccines>
Answers to your vaccine questions
At present, more than 150 million people can be vaccinated – almost half of the population. But each state makes the final decision about who goes first. The country’s 21 million health workers and three million residents of long-term care facilities were the first to qualify. In mid-January, federal officials urged all states to be eligible for anyone 65 and older and for adults of any age with medical conditions at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying of Covid-19 . Adults in the general population are at the back of the queue. If federal and state health officials can clear up bottlenecks in the distribution of vaccines, everyone 16 years and older will be eligible as early as spring or early summer. The vaccine has not been approved in children, although studies are underway. It can take months for a vaccine to be available to anyone under the age of 16. Visit your health website for recent information on vaccination policies in your area.
You do not have to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine, although you will be asked for insurance information. If you do not have insurance, you should still receive the vaccine free of charge. Congress passed this spring legislation that prohibits insurers from applying any cost sharing, such as a co-payment or deductible. It was based on additional protection that pharmacies, doctors and hospitals prevented from patients, including those who were not insured. Nevertheless, health experts are concerned that patients could end up in loopholes that make them vulnerable to surprising bills. This can happen to those who charge a doctor’s fee along with their vaccine, or Americans who have certain types of health coverage that do not fall under the new rules. If you get your vaccine at a doctor’s office or an urgent clinic, talk to them about possible hidden charges. To make sure that you will not get a surprise bill, it is best to take your vaccination at a vaccination center or a local pharmacy as soon as the shots are more available.
It must be determined. It is possible that Covid-19 vaccinations will become an annual event, just like the flu shot. Or it could be that the benefits of the vaccine last longer than a year. We have to wait and see how durable the protection against the vaccines is. To determine this, researchers will be monitoring people who have been vaccinated to look for “breakthrough cases” – people who become ill despite being vaccinated with Covid-19. This is a sign of weakening of protection and will give researchers clues as to how long the vaccine will last. They will also monitor the levels of antibodies and T cells in the blood of vaccines to determine if and when a booster shot is needed. It is possible that people need boosters every few months, once a year or only every few years. It’s just a matter of waiting for the data.
“I do not know how much it can actually protect me,” she said. Yamao said. “And there are a lot of risks involved.”
Government advisers say they will have to act cautiously with public health campaigns promoting the vaccines.
“I think it would just be a source of more setbacks to ask people to get the vaccine,” said Takashi Nakano, a professor at Kawasaki Medical School and a member of the health ministry’s advisory board on vaccines. “People might think, ‘Why is he suggesting I take the unsafe vaccine with the government push?'”
Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca were partly concerned about the domestic interest in conducting small clinical trials in Japan before obtaining the approval of their vaccines. Japan has contracts with the three companies and recently announced plans to produce doses of the shot developed by AstraZeneca domestically.
Given the government’s pressure to host the Olympics, officials are particularly concerned about committing a vaccination campaign to the success of the Games.
“Vaccination and the Olympics must be separated,” Shunichi Shinkawa, an official of the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat for Combating New Coronavirus Disease Control, said in an interview. “Vaccination is for the people and to protect human life in Japan.”
Even some athletes are cautious. Mei Ichinose, a Paralympic swimmer who competes for Japan and currently trains near Brisbane in Australia, said she was asked if she was afraid the vaccine could affect her performance.
“Performance aside, I don’t know if I feel 100 percent safe to get it as a human being,” she said. “It usually takes a lot of time to create vaccines,” she added. “But this time the vaccines were made so fast, so I’m worried about their safety.”
In other cases, vaccination decisions can only amount to whether it enables people to do something they really want to do.
Me. Yamao, the Tokyo hairdresser, said she would be vaccinated if it meant she could visit her parents in Osaka.
“If I can not ride the train without the vaccination, I will consider it,” she said. “It’s a last resort.”
Reporting contributed by Youmi Kim of Seoul, South Korea, Tiffany May of Hong Kong and Makiko Inoue of Tokyo.